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…people don’t tell you about pregnancy, labor, delivery and recovery. Frankly, I think they should, but that’s another story for another day (and I do plan to do a post on what people should tell you about these things).

In the meantime, let’s celebrate a small milestone, shall we?

Today I showered, shaved my legs (all the way up to my thigh!), dried off, and blow dried my hair. All.By.My.Self. As in with no assistance what-so-ever.

Yesterday I wouldn’t have even dreamed of shaving my legs and has assistance drying off.

It’s the little things in life; small miracles like shaving that keep me going.

The finish line is getting closer and closer, and I’m feeling more and more ready for Junie to make his appearance!

I’m feeling like he’s getting a little lower, but not much — he’s still got a ways to go. When I go to the doctor on Tuesday, he’ll check me to see if I’m making any progress. I’m trying really, really hard to keep telling myself that I’m not making any progress and that Junie is going to make a late appearance, but that’s getting harder and harder.

Lately I’ve been having some major heartburn at night, but only when I roll over. I don’t have heartburn during the day, or if I do, its super mild and passes quickly. My night time heartburn? Not so much. Its long, super painful, and often times makes me feel nauseous. Even though rolling over has become quite the production, it seems like the heartburn is overkill.

Other than that though, I’m still feeling good. I haven’t had any swelling, don’t have any Braxton-Hicks contractions, or any other significant discomforts.

Recently I’ve felt like I’m not in a good place with my gestational diabetes. For the most part, my numbers are still fairly good the two times a day I test, but when I know I don’t have to test, I don’t do as well and I don’t feel like my attitude about it has been good lately. Yesterday, I had ice cream and cake with my dinner, even though I knew it would make my blood sugar and that I would have to test. It wasn’t crazy high, but my attitude of “I’m pregnant and I’ll eat it if I want it” bothered me a lot. So I’ve put myself back on testing four times a day for the time being, until I feel like my attitude and diet when I know I don’t have to test are better.

Speaking of cake, I ate it at a little “shower” my boss had for me with the kids Wednesday night. All of our adult teachers and outreach leaders went in and got us a pack n’ play and a diaper genie, and well as a few other things, like some newborn onsies. Several of the students brought their own gifts as well, which was really sweet. One of my favorite girls was even able to make it after she told me she wouldn’t be able to because of band practice. But, she decided to miss part of it so she could come! Hubby got to come too, which made it extra-special, since I’ve gotten to do all the opening and admiring so far.

Afterwards, some of the boys were asking me if we’d picked any names out yet. Yes we have, but we can’t decide! So they decided to give me some naming advice — something short, manly and Biblical. Hmmm…Boaz?

Only 6 more weeks to go! I really cannot believe we’re this far along and that in a few short weeks we’ll have a baby — it still seems surreal.

One of my co-workers told me it looked like the baby is heading down, but I really don’t think I’ve dropped yet. I’m still feeling a good bit of movement up under the girls, which seems quite high to me, even if it is just Junie’s feet. Speaking of movements, they’ve started feeling a lot different, like someone’s pushing against the inside of my stomach and pushing down. Its totally weird. That, and I’ve seen my belly jump at least an inch while I’ve just been chilling on the couch. Craziness.

I’m still feeling like I’m winding down; I’m tired, and my back, shoulders and legs seem to always be sore. And after a nice, long hiatus, my heartburn seems to be back. Bummer. But, luckily for me, these things are all still pretty mild, so I’m still pretty comfortable and happy most of the time.

The Gestational Diabetes is still being well controlled with diet. In fact, my doctor was so pleased with my numbers last week, that he’s allowed me to test only twice a day, as opposed to four. In a weird way, I miss testing just because I liked to know what was going on in my body. But I think I’m doing a good job of keeping my diet the same when I’m not testing, I have noticed that the finger prick seems to hurt more, instead of less, as I’ve continued testing, which seems counter-intuitive. I think its mostly because I’ve been using the same finger primarily for most of my tests.

Even though I’m tired and sleeping more, I still have quite the list of things I want to do before the baby comes. I want to freeze meals, but I also want to do a lot of things with Hubby while its still relatively easy to get out and while its just the two of us. I’d love to go to a local baseball game, play putt-putt, have a picnic, go to the movies, and have a “last supper” at my favorite upscale eatery. Of course, our weekends are jam-packed, but I’m hoping we can squeeze most of them in. Is there anything else you think we should add?

Also, what is the deal with the circle around my belly button? It doesn’t seem to be noticeable looking down, but looking at the picture makes me cringe a little. Yuck.

People have started to tell me that I’m waddling, which is WONDERFUL. Yes, that’s what every pregnant woman wants to be told — they waddle. And please, if you must tell a pregnant woman this, or point it out loudly in her presence, please do not follow it up with laughter.

In case you missed my news flash, I have gestational diabetes, and was super surprised that I do. But, it is true. So, last Friday, I packed myself up and went to diabetic “boot camp” where I was given my meter, taught how to use it, shown an informational video, and told about good nutrition.

My meter is totally not as scary as I thought it would be, and is very easy to use. I don’t think I’m used to pricking my finger yet. It doesn’t hurt much, but there’s something about having to hold an implement that shoots a needle into your finger, press a button and inflict pain upon yourself that I’m not used to yet. The squeezing my finger for blood, on the other hand, is totally cool with me!

I have been testing primarily on my left pointer, and have a visible series of small holes on the side of my last knuckle. I tried to take a photo, but it didn’t show up too well. I think I may need to alternate fingers more, but for now, this is working for me. And battle wounds are cool right?

It’s very simple to use as well, which I really appreciate. Stick a strip in, the meter turns on and asks for blood. I put the tip of the strip up against my blob of blood, and it sucks it up, and 5 seconds later I have a reading. Once I record what my number was, I pull the strip out, toss it and the meter turns off. Piece of cake!

The video was somewhat informative, but since I had googled and webmd-ed so much, I had already read much of the information. Several different women were shown, sharing their feelings about having gestational diabetes and what they did to help control it. I was glad to see they had a woman who seemed a lot like me who still had gestational diabetes.

Likewise, the nutritional part of the class wasn’t earth-shattering for me, but more of a refresher of things I already knew, and a different way of thinking about what I already knew about eating. Remember that fruit counts as a carb? Yeah, I didn’t. So my fruit-heavy lunches? Not so good.

I also learned that, for the time being, I only need to look at and count carbs. Sugars aren’t important, because they are counted as carbs. The good thing is that I can use my carb allotment for a meal or snack however I want. So Saturday, when I wanted cinnamon buns, I could still have one, because it fit into my carb allotment for breakfast (15-30 grams of carb). This makes things seem totally non-restrictive, which is really nice.

Mostly though, I haven’t had to make too many changes to how I eat. I’ve replaced one of my lunch servings of fruit with a veggie, and have a sandwich with cheese instead of a plain toasted English muffin to get in more protein. My breakfasts, dinners and snacks have stayed pretty much the same. I have to be more scheduled about eating, but in some ways, that makes me feel like I’m eating more, since some of my meals I would previously spread out I now eat in one sitting.

I did find out that my 3 hour test numbers were BAD. As in, my first hour number was almost double what it should be. And it didn’t come down too much by hour three either. Yikes! Luckily, I rarely, if ever, ingest that much sugar during the course of a day, much less in one sitting! The good thing is that I’m not asking my body to process this much sugar, but the bad thing is that when it is asked to, it can’t. My doctor and I are both very pleased with where my numbers have been over the past week. They are so good that he’s said if they remain like this over the next two weeks, he’ll let me test two times a day as opposed to the four times I’m testing now. This is great news not only for my finger, but also in general, because it means everything is well controlled with little effort or diet change on my part.

Honestly, all of this has been much easier than I anticipated. And, I’ve discovered that I think it’s a little cool too! I feel like a walking science experiment, and I find it very interesting to see how different food combos affect my body and my sugar levels. Who would have thought I’d go from devastated about this situation to thinking its kind of cool? Not me!

Just a 20-something girl living on the East Coast, trying to figure out life.
I'm a wife and mom to two.
I'm trying to rediscover my love for long walks, yoga and pilates. But not hiking. I still don't like hills.
I was raised at the beach, but I don't like the beach. I like to look at it, but I don't like to swim in it, I'd prefer a pool, thanks.
I'm just trying to become the best person I can be -- the woman God wants me to be. That's easier said than done!

E-mail Me!

Contact me at longbrakeliving@gmail.com - I'd love to hear from you!

Hubby is my all-time favorite guy. A perfect mix of serious, sarcastic, laid-back, handy and nerdy, he is the perfect complement to me. I love his strong work-ethic and the way he always loves and supports me through everything. Some of Hubby's favorite things include: hiking, Virginia Tech football, woodworking, and his family. When I married him in July 2007, I had no idea what an amazing journey we were headed on, and how I could come to love him so much more each day.

Our oldest, Colton, is three years old. He is equal parts sassy and hysterical. He loves all things train, car, bus, truck, and machine related. He has a penchant for made-up words and loves to be the clown of his pre-school class.
Our younger son, Nathan, was born this May. He is pure joy and full of smiles! He is such a blessing and a perfect fit for our family.